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Communion for the Homebound

If you are homebound and would like to receive communion, please contact the parish office.

Eucharist

The Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread, and after he had given thanks, broke it and said: "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way, after the supper, he took the cup saying: "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me. " Paul 1 Cor.11:23-25

The Eucharist is the sacrament in which Christ is really and truly present under the appearance of bread and wine.

The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.”

The Eucharist was instituted by Christ at the Last Supper. Jesus fulfilled his own promise made in his public ministry, to give himself as the bread of life Matt 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-24, Luke 22:19-20.

"The bread of life." St. John's discourse: "Truly, truly I say to you unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever." John 6;35-65.

At the heart of the Eucharistic celebration are the bread and wine that, by the words of Christ and the invocation of the Holy Spirit, become Christ's Body and Blood.

In the consecration of the bread and wine, a change takes place in the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This the holy Catholic Church calls TRANSUBSTANTIATION.

The Real Presence is an act of Faith, but the reality is that each day the bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Jesus and assimilated into our body, just as the ordinary food and drink we take becomes our body and blood! Can we deny that power to God?

Sacrifice: By the action of the priest's consecration of the bread and wine at Mass, the Eucharist renews the same sacrifice that Christ made upon the Cross, and the faithful who take part in the Mass join with the priest in offering the sacrifice to God.

The Eucharist is a sign of the sacrifice offered by Christ on the Cross. He offers himself to the Father in the Mass as he did on the Cross. This is done at the moment of consecration by the priest. As Christ instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper, he established the sacrament of the priesthood (Holy Orders).

The effects of the Eucharist:

1) Union with Christ. This union was what Christ promised in the Bread of Life discourse (John 6:56).

2) Life - giving grace. This has the power to remit venial sins, fortify against mortal sins and bring joy to the souls of the devout.

3) Gives a share in the Life of Christ and the Trinity. The life bestowed extends to the spiritual life and also shares in the communion of the Holy Trinity.

4) Unites the Church. The Eucharist brings the union of the individual with Christ and through Him brings as well the union of Christians among themselves.